Eighty-four of Georgia’s 181 school districts were recognized for Farm to School excellence at the 5th annual Golden Radish Awards at the Georgia Freight Depot. These districts served more than 1.3 million students a total of 109 million school meals with locally grown food items. They also taught more than 61,000 state standards-based lessons incorporating food and agriculture.

The Golden Radish Award publicly recognizes Georgia school districts for best practices in farm to school programs. These best practices include local food procurement, exposing students to new foods through taste tests, and incorporating cooking and gardening activities in curriculum. This year, the Golden Radish partners - Georgia Organics, Georgia’s Departments of Agriculture, Education, Public Health, Early Care and Learning and the University of Georgia Cooperative Extension (UGA Extension) presented five new awards recognizing innovative farm to school efforts.

GaDOE presented a “Farm to School Farmer of the Year” award to farmer Lisa Dojan of Fisheads Aquaponics for her exemplary work with Georgia students.

“At the Georgia Department of Education we’re focused on expanding opportunities for Georgia’s kids, and farm to school is a perfect example of that,” State School Superintendent Richard Woods said. “When students have access to fresh, local foods they’re better prepared to learn – and they can connect with Georgia agriculture, one of our state’s largest industries.”

Additional 2018 Farm to School Innovation awarded were:

• Georgia Organics presented an Organic Radish Award to Warren County Public Schools for including certified organic food in the meals program and teaching organic growing practices to students.

• DPH presented an “Innovative Partnership” award to Clark County School District for their partnerships and programs with local restaurants, Americorps, UGA “Grow It, Know It” and UGA Extension, local farmers, and the local food bank.

• GDA presented a “Georgia Grown” award to Diana Cole from Barrow County. (please hold information until 10/22)

• UGA Extension presented the Outstanding Extension Farm to School Program Award to Warren County Public School to recognize the comprehensive school garden plan, complete with harvest parade and-3 acre production garden, a model for our state.

• The Department of Early Care and Learning (DECAL) presented a Baby Golden Radish Award to Bleckley County School District for innovative implementation of Farm to Early Care and Education into their embedded preschool Program.  

The 2017-18 school year was a record breaking year of farm to school growth in Georgia, and all participants were thrilled to celebrate at the Golden Radish Awards. While the Innovation Award winning districts were leading the way, 81 other 2018 Golden Radish Award winning districts were working to advance food, nutrition and agriculture education throughout the state.

The 84 school systems being recognized are:

Platinum

Baldwin County School District
Barrow County School System
Bartow County School System
Bleckley County School District
Burke County Public School System
Carrollton City Schools
Cherokee County School District
Clarke County School District
Dade County Schools
Effingham County Schools
Elbert County School District
Fannin County School System
Fulton County Schools
Gainesville City School System
Henry County Schools
Jackson County Schools
Laurens County Schools
Paulding County School District
Sumter County Schools
Tift County Schools
Valdosta City Schools
Warren County Public Schools

Gold

Atlanta Public Schools
City Schools of Decatur
Clayton County Public Schools
Cobb County School District
Coweta County School System
DeKalb County School District
Dougherty County School System
Fayette County Public Schools

Floyd County Schools
Gwinnett County Public Schools
Hart County Charter System
Marietta City Schools
Morgan County Charter School System
Newton County Schools
Rockdale County Public Schools
Savannah-Chatham County Public School System
Treutlen County Schools
Trion City Schools
Wayne County School System

Silver

Atlanta Neighborhood Charter School
Brantley County School System
Carroll County Schools
Columbia County School District
Douglas County School System
Forsyth County Schools
Lee County School System
Lowndes County School District
Lumpkin County School System
Madison County School District
Muscogee County School District
Polk School District
Toombs County Schools

Bronze

Bibb County School District
Buford City Schools
Butts County School System
Calhoun City School System
Coffee County School System
Dalton Public Schools
Dawson County School System
Dublin City Schools
Emanuel County School System
Glascock County School System
Glynn County School System
Habersham County Schools
Hall County Schools
Harris County School District
Irwin County School System
Johnson County Schools

Lincoln County School District
Pickens County Schools
Richmond County School System
Stephens County School System
Wilkinson County Board of Education

Honorary

Dooly County School System
Georgia Department of Juvenile Justice
Grady County Schools
Griffin-Spalding County School System
Scintilla Charter Academy
DODEA Americus Southeast District
Union County Schools
Ware County School District
Wilcox County Schools